Reflection for the third week

Hello everyone,

I would like to start this week’s blog from Wootfit chapter 3. I was struggling to understand the fact that discourse analysis has not made a significant impact within sociology in general as it made within the sociology of scientific knowledge. I am wondering whether or not one of the reason is that individuals do not usually realize what other people says. If so, I can basically argue that people do a quick discourse analysis during a conversation by constructing the meaning from other’s words. That is why I am still confused about this issue. On the other hand, I can understand how discourse analysis can make a significant impact within the sociology of knowledge.

Also, I am wondering why qualitative focus on discourse might be failed to engage within North American sociology. Wootfit claims that the reason is that North American sociology more focus on quantitative approaches to sociological research. Even if there is a difference between the foci, can’t we say that a radically qualitative focus on discourse cannot be applied to North America? Are those foci general or just applicable to certain places?

 

It is helpful for me to see that Gilbert and Mulkay’s and as followers of them Potter and Wetherell’s explanations of the root of discourse analysis. They pointed out some principles. I would like to focus on only one of them which is parallel to the point I made above. They claimed that the same phenomenon can be described in several different ways. At this point, I have another question:

What are difference between the Potter and Wetherell’s account principles of discourse analysis, especially for the first 5 principles? Because they look almost same to me.

I am also wondering what the relationship between discourse analysis and attribution theory is. Or, what is the state of discourse analysis within the attribution theory?

I also want to a little bit mention some important points for me from other readings this week. One of the discussions from last week was the difference between conversation analysis and discourse analysis. Potter starts with a brief explanation. I think this is the point what the difference is. According to Potter, discourse is “much of what we do with others we do by way of conversation, phone calls, letters and instructions. Potter, like Wootfit, is also pointing out that discourse analysis is a central task for social science. I think this is a very big claim. Does that mean the researchers in the field of social science should conduct discourse analysis? My other question from Potter’s reading is what “discourse is situated” means. Furthermore, I am challenging to understand the difference between “action-oriented” and “constructed”. To me, they seem quite similar.

Finally, I would like to share some points from Lester and Gabriel article. I think I am more clear than last week in terms of what discourse really means. I think one of main question I can ask is as follows:

Is there any relationship/what are the difference between “construct of intelligence” and “discourse of intelligence”? I am confused about these phrases because as we discussed last week, discourse can be thought as “constructing meaning”. It seems to me that there should be similarities between those two phrases.

I am really looking forward to discussing in class on Wednesday.

Thanks,

My reflection for the first week readings

Hello everyone,

I started my readings this week with the first two chapters of Wootfit. These chapters are basically important for us to understand the terms “Conversation Analysis (CA)” and “Discourse Analysis (DA)”. For me, all the readings this week are important to convince myself on understanding of the goal of this course. Before registered for THIS COURSE, I thought that “DISCOURSE” Analysis will help me to discover more than “what someone says during an interview”. It will also help me to be able to catch “what someone really means when he or she says something during an interview”. In this respect, Wootfit’s readings have provided me brief definitions of CA and DA, and what the important point during a conversation, such as a telephone call. I can understand these kinds of important points, but I am wondering how I can figure out all time gaps during a phone call. It can be understood if we conduct an interview via Skype or face-to-face because we can record it. Wootfit does not mention this point in these two chapters. Also, the definition of DA hasn’t made sense to me until I read the first chapter of Jorgensen and Philips’ book. In that chapter, Jorgensen and Philips were explaining the purpose of Discourse Analyst in the page 21. I think it was the best way to explain what discourse analysis is.  It was also interesting to me that although it has been claimed that DA is the most widely used social constructionist approaches, there hasn’t had a clear definition of the term, at least I have had difficulty to understand. Hepburn article is a good start for me to have an example of how to organize a paper that is about discourse analysis. I have conducted some research so far. However, I didn’t take emphasizes and other important points taken into account as Hepburn did. I think and I hope the class, including class discussions, and other readings will contribute to my understanding of discourse analysis and how to apply discourse analysis in my field. I am not sure how I performed with my first reflection. Therefore, I will really appreciate for your comments and recommendations to improve my future reflections.

Thanks,

Personal Info

Hello everyone,

My name is Remzi Kizilboga. I am from Turkey and a third year PhD student in Instructional Systems Technology (IST). This is my fourth year in Bloomington. I am more interested in technology integration in K-12 settings and how to encourage, help, guide and support teachers to effectively integrate technology in their classrooms.  I am also interested in online learning in higher education. Since I have a scholarship from the Turkish Government, I have to go back to my country and start working as an assistant professor at Bitlis Eren University.  I am also minoring in Inquiry Methodology. My minor advisor is Dr. David Rutkowski. My plan is to complete all my coursework this Spring and start dissertation prospectus in Summer. Therefore, I am taking three Inquiry Courses this semester (Y631, Y525, and Y650)

I am really looking forward to having a great semester with all of you.

Thanks,

RK